different

Here's one more way in which Ed and I are completely different. Polar opposites, in fact. It's the way we react to vaccinations. For him, there are no side effects. Not even a sore arm. You'd think the pharmacist leaned in through the car window and accidentally vaccinated the seat cushion rather than his arm.

For me, after the second shot and now the third, I am full of aches and flu like symptoms. They start at night and continue into the next day. Of course, it's not a big deal. One big nothing compared to a Covid infection. Nonetheless, the night and day after a shot, I am the wet noodle of wet noodles. Limp. Useless.

I'd signed us up for a Friday shot precisely for this reason. The young family went down to Chicago for a couple of days and nothing here requires my alert presence. So I can veg out. And believe me, I do just want to veg out. The walk to the barn to feed the animals feels like a jog up Mt Everest.

Breakfast, inside, because we have another chilly day. And besides, I'm feeling extra chilly myself. One of the little bugga buggas to deal with.

 

Ed and I did have something on our plate for the noon hour and I seriously doubted that I would be up for it, but sometimes when you push yourself, you can perk up for a little while. So I pushed myself and we went, first to the farmers market (which was over in a sports field, because the Square is being occupied by the Art Fair this weekend), for the flowers and carrots...

And from there, we drove to the Lifting Hearts Therapy Gardens. It's a bunch of acres managed by Groundswell Conservancy, handed over to the Hmong for cultivation. A section of it is given to the Hmong Elders so that they can farm there and, too, use it as a place to come together safely, all summer long, in this period of distancing and isolation.

The Hmong people are an important part of our food scene here in south central Wisconsin. They are a strong presence at the farmers markets, bringing to them produce that aligns with our local tastes, but also expands those to include stuff we wouldn't have expected to see at a market say ten, twenty years ago. And they are master flower growers! 

 

At the Lifting Heart Gardens, the Elders are indeed elderly: they are the generation that escaped persecution by fleeing from Laos to Thailand, eventually settling in parts of the Midwest. Many feel themselves too old to learn English, so they speak through their children and grandchildren.

Today, they displayed their talents and interests that extend beyond just agricultural work.

 

But it is the harvest that is behind the day's little celebration. (Ed and I were invited because he is a loyal supporter of Groundswell Conservancy.) 

 

 

 

We sampled, we listened to small presentations and then I was more than ready to go home (though we did pause to walk a Conservancy trail across the road: who knew that we had such hills just to the north and east of Madison!).

At the farmhouse, I nearly ran to the couch so that I could lie down and sleep. And of course, here's the beauty of vaccination side effects, even the most extreme ones (I seem to belong to the 11% who get those): one minute they are there and the next minute they're gone and you are back to normal. It's the quickest bounce-back you'll ever have from feeling totally limp to feeling just fine.